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THE WINE TASTER
By Robin Garr
The Courier-Journal, Jan. 11, 1989
Chardonnay, Chardonnay, Chardonnay: It seems as if all the world's
white wine lately has turned into Chardonnay.
Ten years ago, people who didn't think much about wine would stroll up
to the bar or hail the server and ask for "a glass of chablis."
Five years later, the buzz word for the generic quaff had evolved to "a
glass of white wine."
Nowadays, every yuppie and his brother insists on "Chardonnay."
Some even know it's the name of a wine grape.
The demand for Chardonnay -- and nothing else but Chardonnay -- has
pushed the price of many California labels into double digits; a few of the
fanciest brands are well into the $20-plus range, and the price of French
white Burgundy (which elevates the grape to nirvana) doesn't bear thinking
about.
At the other end of the price spectrum, as I discussed in the Dec. 14
column, there's some decent Chardonnay to be found amid an ocean of really
poor stuff in the $5 range.
Chardonnay is a wonderful grape, no question about it. As wine grapes
go, it is relatively easy to grow and fairly easy to turn into drinkable
wine.
Taste a really good Chardonnay, and a light bulb will go off above your
head as you sense a symphony of shifting scents and flavors and suddenly
comprehend what fine wine is really about.
Yup, I like it too.
But drinking Chardonnay all the time would be something like eating
chocolate cake with chocolate icing all the time: Too much of a good
thing.
So this week let me call your attention to a tasty alternative:
Sauvignon Blanc.
Grown in France's Loire and Bordeaux regions and in California,
Sauvignon Blanc (sometimes bottled in this country as Fume Blanc) stands in
crisp contrast to Chardonnay.
It is lean, sprightly and racy where Chardonnay is soft, fat and
unctuous. Chardonnay fills the taster's nose and mouth with rich scents and
flavors of butter, spices and tropical fruit; Sauvignon Blanc treads more
delicately in perfumed fields of flowers, citrus flavors and, most
characteristic of all, the spring-fresh scent of cut grass or new-mown
hay.
In short, it's a good change of pace; and because it's not as popular
as Chardonnay, the top-notch labels aren't nearly as expensive.
Following are my notes on a half-dozen Sauvignon Blancs, and a superb
Chalone Pinot Blanc thrown in for variety's sake.
*
I had a mixed response to Bob Thompson's "Notes on a California
Cellarbook," a wine book recently published by Beech Tree Books (William
Morrow), New York, 335 pages, $19.95.
Thompson, author of a useful pocket encyclopedia of California wine,
apparently dumped a decade's tasting notes into his word processor and
surrounded them with stories about his favorite wineries.
The tasting notes, unfortunately, are the worst feature of the book.
Thompson turns to terminology more suited to a race track tout, for
instance, when he notes that Heitz Cellar's 1977 Cabernet Sauvignon is
"always in the pack."
He seems to have been influenced by the astrological menu in a Chinese
restaurant when he notes that the 1984 Louis M. Martini Cabernet was
"enigmatic early, when it seemed very forward."
This is not helpful wine writing.
The narrative sections of the book, however, make interesting if not
always graceful reading, and Thompson's concise discussion of the varying
climates of California and Europe and how they yield different sorts of wine
is as clear an explanation of the matter as I've ever read.
So call the book flawed, and don't count on it for advice about what
wine to buy for dinner tonight. But if you like to read about the wine
country and wine makers, you'll find it a pleasant companion on a winter
evening with a glass of wine at your side.
(4 1/2 stars) Duckhorn Vineyards Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc, 1987.
(So-veen-yawn Blawnc.) This clear, pale greenish-gold wine demonstrates the
"grassy" quality that's characteristic of Sauvignon Blanc; its delicate scent
evokes the smells of new-cut grass on a summer afternoon. Ample fruit and
tart acidity are perfectly balanced in a crisp, fresh wine that offers a
satisfying break from Chardonnay. ($11.59)
(4 stars) Carmenet Sonoma County white wine, 1986. This clear, bright
greenish-gold wine, a Bordeaux-style blend of 70 percent Sauvignon Blanc and
30 percent Semillon, has an excellent, delicately perfumed and floral scent.
Its full-bodied flavor backs soft, appetizing fruit with properly tart
acidity, with good, lingering flavors of grapefruit and that refreshing
grassy character. ($9.89)
(4 stars) Chalone Vineyards estate-bottled Pinot Blanc, 1987. (Pee-no
Blawnc.) This is a clear, brass-colored wine with a faint rosy hue; its
unusual scent mingles wine grapes with complex overtones of figs, green
olives and melted butter. It is a very mouth-filling wine, with a hint of
ripe olives in its fruity flavor; crisp acidity lingers. ($16.24)
(3 1/2 stars) Parducci Mendocino County Sauvignon Blanc, 1986. This clear,
pale straw-colored wine's pleasing grassiness offers a textbook example of
the grape. Wine grapes and crisp acidity are balanced in its fresh flavor,
and clean, lemony acidity lingers. ($6.49)
(3 stars) Christophe California Sauvignon Blanc, 1986. This clear, pale
greenish-gold wine has a pleasant grassy scent with a hint of lemon, and the
grassy quality persists in a lean, steely flavor, typical Sauvignon Blanc,
that would go particularly well with fish. ($5.39)
(3 stars) Reserve Cellars of Ernest & Julio Gallo California Sauvignon
Blanc, 1986. If most Sauvignon Blancs are drawn in pastel shades, Gallo's is
done in poster paint: Hearty citrus and melon and an unctuous fresh-fruit
taste make for a bold, bright but somewhat one-dimensional wine with a slight
edge of sweetness. ($2.69)
(2 1/2 stars) Jepson Mendocino County Sauvignon Blanc, 1985. This is a
clear, pale straw-colored wine with an apple-like scent edged with an odd
touch of something like menthol. There's ample oakiness in its full-bodied,
acidic flavor, leaving the impression of a Sauvignon Blanc made to resemble
as closely as possible a Chardonnay. ($5.99)
"The Wine Taster" appears every other Wednesday in The (Louisville)
Courier-Journal Food Section. Wine and Food Critic Robin Garr rates table
wines available in the Louisville area, using a one- to five-star scale
determined by quality and value. Send suggestions or questions in care of The
Courier-Journal, 525 W. Broadway, Louisville, Ky. 40202, call (502) 582-4647,
or leave a message for 73125,70.